moocow

I thought I'd finally post my build. I bought this car in 2015 after getting my first job out of high school. I wanted to learn stick on something cheap and affordable. It had mismatched sways, a style bar, RB T2 front lip, and Megan coilovers. For about two weeks i puttered around town stalling and getting honked at before really getting used to the clutch pedal.

Bought the '97 in 2015. Learned to drive stick on it.

I did the all the fluids and went to my first autocross in the Laguna parking lot. This is the start of my HDPE journey. These are my coworkers' cars all lined up from 2015. The Subaru (base) was sold, the NC went off a cliff (driver survived), the Talon got shipped back to the actual owner (it was on indefinite loan), and the 370z was totaled on the street (driver also OK). Only the Miata is still around.

First autocross in the parking lot at Laguna.

The car now resembles nothing like when I bought it. The stock engine and transmission are still original and are at 160k miles. Here's the car in the Cow Palace parking lot after running with Golden Gate Lotus Club. A friend's GTI is to the right.

The current 2021 state of affairs.

moocow

2016 build stuff. The Miata did a round of local California tracks without walls to hit: Buttonwillow and Thunderhill West. East would come later.
I added 15x8 Storm S1's with 225 RS3's. These were a bit much for a beginner like me, but it was fun to beat on the tires with no fade. The car constantly wanted to oversteer on entry. In hindsight, the rear sway was oversized, and the Megan spring rates (~450,~350?) were far from ideal.

moocow

In 2017, the mods kept coming. I added Race Xidas @ 800/500, which completely transformed the car. I went from a 1:36 to a 1:30 at Thunderhill West. The stock seats were now incapable of holding me in, so I added a Sparco Evo and harness bar. I use a Necksgen 2 on the track.
Hood vents and brake ducts kept things cool on the track. I also exploded a diff bearing on track but managed to drive it home, whining the whole way. Another used Torsen went in. I was getting a lot more comfortable on track with the new setup.

moocow

2018-2019 was mostly maintenance from driving to the track and autocross. I finally cracked a set of Ebay headers that had somehow passed CARB. My brother managed to money shift my car on the front straight at Buttonwillow going 3-2. Car still ran fine. I finally swapped my poly bushing set in, replaced the starter after getting stranded on track, and deleted those terrible Ebay low profile popups for the MT.net approved turn signal design.
2020 I decided to prep for turbo. I added the MS3 and got the car running OK. I thought I was an OK driver to add aero - added Trackspeed splitter brackets and the Blackbird spoiler. Turns out I still suck after my SCCA buddy handily beat me in my own car at autocross.


Big crack at the merge

Stock heat shield fit - passed visual

the MT.net headlight solution

moocow

2020 was an awful year, and no one within my group of friends had their car running. I decided to finally add the FM2 turbo over winter. It was not a terrible smooth process.
FedEx decided to lose the intercooler hardware by ripping open my package, so I took my time mocking things up. I had the SPM reroute, so I decided to add that on while I had the car on jack stands. T

This bastard of a bolt decided to stay on the car. We attempted to weld to it and to create a socket, but it wasn't coming out. So, off with the head.

Helicoil repaired the bolt. I replaced the head studs with ARP because why not. I've never had things so disassembled on my car, and I wasn't entirely sure that I would get it all back together myself.

I was going to miss the first autocross of the season out at Crow's, so I borrowed my girlfriend's base G37 coupe. This turned out to be good practice at controlling my right foot.



With the turbo back on, I discovered the downpipe didn't fit. It was two months of back and forth with Flyin Miata. They shipped me another downpipe, which also didn't fit. The DP couldn't be fully tightened without hitting the top of the transmission tunnel.


At this point, I bolted the car back together and drove it around N/A to make sure the head repair had gone well. After fixing coolant leaks from the reroute (user error) from about every hose I had touched, the car was running well again. Flyin Miata and I couldn't figure out what had gone wrong on the turbo install. My JR headers fit fine, so the engine was in the right position. I tried rotating the turbo at the manifold connections, but there's not enough slop to have any significant adjustment at the trans tunnel. Another buddy welded me a quick adapter so I could get the car running. Notice how we used just a straight connection, no bend upwards. This lets the cat sit an inch lower, which then fit on the car.

moocow

So the car is finally running. I street tuned it on wastegate (8psi), which only makes 6.5 psi at the MAP sensor. I ordered an MBC to help me keep street tuning the VE table as I didn't want to mess with EBC while still tuning the fueling. My plans are to work on a breather can and PCV block off for the track and add the V8R stoptech brake kit. The brake kit has been completely maddening with with mismatched hardware, different brake lines, short bolts, and just a meh design. I'll also add an oil temp sensor in the pan before tracking it to assess the oil temperature and need for external cooling.